I believe they are right, In Australia, I see 15, 16, 17 year olds who think they couldn't live without going and getting blind drunk every Friday and Saturday. Once they hit 18 drinking just becomes a novelty and they don't seem to drink much at all.

The idea of the people saying that drinking fatalities in the affected ages will go up I believe it wrong. If a 19 or 20 year old wants alcohol they can get it, they can still get drunk and drive. Making actions that help reduce the number of kids geting drunk, using simple logic then less kids will be driving while drunk.

What say you, are the college presidents right and the US in need of reform?

I think it should be lowered to 18 in the US or perhaps even to 16 for beer and wine but I didn't lose sleep over it. I don't drink that much even though I'm now over the legal age. The big argument about lowering the drinking age to 18 in the US is always "you can fight and die for your country at 18 but you can't buy a beer". In many ways, they're right. Some states have taken the initiative to lower the drinking age to 18 for members of the miliitary; I don't know if they've had any success.

The other argument to lower it is that it would cut down the binge drinking - another valid point. The drinking ages are lower in Europe and from what I've noticed, they don't have the same problems with the binge drinking that we have in the US. Also, lowering the drinking age would allow young adults to build up a better tolerance for alcohol at a younger age. For example, because I don't drink, I have almost no tolerance. It takes me forever to consume even 1 drink, and I've never had more than 2 drinks in one night. To be honest, I'm okay with keeping it that way.

In a nutshell, if they lower the drinking age, more power to 'em, but I didn't really care about having to wait till 21. Then again, I do know I'm in a minority here.

Having been an RA in college, I have to say that this argument by the college presidents is a good one, and that there should be a national debate on it.

To me, if you are an adult, you be capable of all decisions of an adult. You can enter into legal contracts, hire employees, get married, get divorced, get drafted, smoke, vote, have your own mortgage, and many other items. However you can't drink.

This creates a bit of a problem for college administrators. How do you keep people from drinking that are underage, but have all of the above privelages? Actively monitoring those that are avoiding being monitored for Binge drinking is a problem. It is a bit like having to enforce abstinance on people fully capable of having sex.

As an RA the only times I found out about drunk residents is when they were so far gone, that they had been left out on the sidewalks too drunk to walk, or puking their brains out in the bathrooms. By the time I was there to help, it was time to transport them to a hospital.

MADD's argument in all of this is pointless. Thier argument is one based on Prohibition. If the legal age was 24, I bet rates would go down yet again.

They shouldn't care about the age of the drinker. Their concern is with people driving drunk, which is a very valid concern. However they are the ones that helped ramrod 21 into law. But 21 is kind of stupid as well.
Most 18 year old's live at home for a few months at least prior to leaving their parent's house. It would be better for them to be legal and drinking and have the guidance of parent's when they take those first few step's in drinking.

There will always be problematic and out of control drinkers, no matter what the age, but if 18 is old enough to be an adult, it should be old enough to drink legally.

I am for it too for the same reasons given above. Keeping it at 21 is archaic and just a symbol of Americas puritanical attitude about drinking. A person isn't going to be magically more responsible abuout drinking at age 21 than they are at 18. The attitude towards alcohol here, and the high drinking age definitley promote wild binging because it's something "forbidden." Many universities have already taken a "we won't punish what we don't see attitude" and it's probably helped a little bit.

"Look Lois, the two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a big fat white guy who is threatened by change."

I don't see why it shouldn't be lowered. Look most other countries are 18 as well. Plus this way on college campuses there would be less trouble with underage drinking. This means administrators don't have to worry about the students drinking and getting arrested. It makes it easier on cops and easier on everyone else.
Blue

All of the opinions stated above are mine and do not represent Airliners.net or my employer unless otherwise stated.

Quoting CasInterest (Reply 2):MADD's argument in all of this is pointless. Thier argument is one based on Prohibition. If the legal age was 24, I bet rates would go down yet again.

They shouldn't care about the age of the drinker. Their concern is with people driving drunk, which is a very valid concern. However they are the ones that helped ramrod 21 into law. But 21 is kind of stupid as well.
Most 18 year old's live at home for a few months at least prior to leaving their parent's house. It would be better for them to be legal and drinking and have the guidance of parent's when they take those first few step's in drinking.

MADD while founded on good intentions has become a Neo-prohibitionist and even the original founder stepped down from it because of their actions and lobbying to make alcohol an illegal narcotic.

As for the original question, yes to at least 19!!

19 which it is here in Ontario is too high with kids coming to university at 18 and having no idea how to handle alcohol is a bad idea. I'm 24 and still get drunk every now and then but no where near as bad as I have seen first year university students often do.

It should definitely be lowered. I remember my roommate coming back piss drunk a couple times during freshman year. We even had a few bottles of beer in the fridge time to time. The only reason so many young people drink so much is because it's forbidden fruit.

I've always wondered how many citations the local cops in college towns issue every year for underage drinking? I actually lied to an Athens-Clarke County cop in January of 1996 so as not to get cited for underage drinking. One of the guys in the group I was with did admit to underage drinking, because he really had no other choice because it was his car and someone else was driving. The fine was something in the neighborhood of $85, which to the typical college student, that's a chunk of change even today.

Having the legal drinking age at 21 is not going to keep folks under the age of 21 from drinking. You'll always have bars that have little if any inclination to check the IDs of their patrons. I was a sophomore in college and there was a bar a few minutes from campus that on a pretty regular basis would serve a group of us in which one or two would be of legal drinking age. Every few months, they'd tighten up on checking IDs so we'd have to send one of our buddies that was of legal drinking age to the bar to get some of us beers (The bar was in a separate room in the place.), and we'd all usually end up in the pool room in the back because you could easily pass your drink off as a cast-off drink left back there.

If you've got friends that work at a bar or a restaurant that serves booze, you can easily get served. About six months before I turned 21, one of the guys in the group I hung out with had started working at a bar/restaurant near the house. We'd go in there and early on, we'd sit in his section and he'd serve us (A few of the guys that would go there with us were of age.). After going there a few times and getting to know the staff there (including the managers), it was no problem get served there at all. A few months later, I started working at a grocery store as a cashier and on my second day running a register by myself, he comes through my line with a couple of bottles of wine (He too was underage). Earlier in the shift, one of the supervisors got on to me for not carding someone so I was a little wary to try to return the favor to my friend at that time. I asked for ID (as one of the supervisors was nearby) and he gave the "I don't have it with me" and I said I couldn't sell it to him without ID. He got ticked off about me not giving him the same treatment he had extended to me and went and told the general manager of the bar that I was not 21. Several of my friends really gave it to him (including some that worked with him at the bar that also knew I wasn't 21 yet) because what he did was not cool (I had explained the situation to them the same day I got banned from the bar until I was 21.), as I had only been on the job a few days and that he should have waited until I had been there a few weeks before trying to come through my line as they really watch the new cashiers like a hawk the first few weeks. Had he just waited a week or two, I would have done it no problem.

I think the key when it comes to drinking is education. I know when I was a teenager, my mom and stepdad from time to time let me have a drink. I think some parents try to portray drinking as evil and that fact makes some kids when they get to college go completely overboard when they party.

So often it depends on when and where you are. Truth is, around here in Daytona during Spring Break, you know a shit ton of underage drinking is going on down beach side. But from what I've seen, as long as you aren't driving, the cops just don't care. My friend said it was the same thing in Jacksonville during the "World's Largest Cocktail Party" - the UGA-UF game. She and her friends (underage at the time) were carrying a case of beer and the cop shouted to them "What are you doing carrying that beer?!?!" At first they were scared they were about to get busted but then the cop said "You guys should be drinking that....not carrying it."

Quoting FlyDeltaJets87 (Reply 11):"What are you doing carrying that beer?!?!" At first they were scared they were about to get busted but then the cop said "You guys should be drinking that....not carrying it."

Thats hilarious! I find that often the cops break the rules just as much as the rest of us. My uncle was a big time cop in his city and he said that he would only issue a citation if the person was crazy or driving (in that case arrest) It shows the cops don't really care a lot. And raising the age would be one less burden on their shoulders.
Blue

All of the opinions stated above are mine and do not represent Airliners.net or my employer unless otherwise stated.

Quoting MCOflyer (Reply 12):Well, people will always find a way to drink regardless of the age.

Exactly. So that makes your statement of:

Quoting MCOflyer (Reply 6):Heck no. More accidents will occur and more people will DUI. Bad idea.

Nonsense. You basically repeated my statement, thus contradicting yourself in the process. You say if 18 year olds could drink there would be more accidents. But you then go on to say that they'll drink regardless if its legal.

Quoting Acey (Reply 7):What about all the countries that have a lower drinking age than the US and actually have less instances of alcohol abuse?

Well, thats the problem, kids are taught about alcohol at ayoung age and are taught responsibility. There is a reason why a 16 year olds can drink at a restaurant (with parents, is that really true, I read that in a UK guidebook once) as opposed to the nonsense here.

speaking of cops attitude to drinking, I lived in the Orlando last summer and every party we held would be broken up by at least 3 cop cars, totally over the top reaction compared to back here in the UK where the police have never broken up any party i ve been to. I lived in a gated complex, maybe that explains it?

Considering there were reports of murders and drive bys every day shouldnt they reorganise their priorities?

Quoting Jetblueguy22 (Reply 13):Thats hilarious! I find that often the cops break the rules just as much as the rest of us. My uncle was a big time cop in his city and he said that he would only issue a citation if the person was crazy or driving (in that case arrest) It shows the cops don't really care a lot. And raising the age would be one less burden on their shoulders.
Blue

I think it's because during the UGA-UF game, the cops know there's not enough room in the JAX City jails to place all the college kids drinking underage so why fight it? haha. It's true with a lot of things though, not just alcohol. For example, fireworks are illegal in Cincinnati, if not all of Ohio but around New Years and the 4th of July, the cops don't do anything if you're shooting off fireworks.

Quoting Cadet57 (Reply 14):Idk about you, but 5'4, 110 pound girls are still gonna be cocked after 2 Bartles&James

Quoting MCOflyer (Reply 20):if we lowered the drinking age that would encourage younger people to drink

Not really. Those who want to drink will do so regardless of the age limit in place at the time.

Lowering the legal age to 18 wouldn't really change a whole helluva lot in my opinion. Sure, it would eliminate some of the "forbidden fruit" aspect, but people are still gonna get blitzed just the same as they do now.

25 FlyDeltaJets87
: Of course it would but it would encourage them to drink more responsibly, especially by the time they got to the college age. If people are exposed t